Famous Five in the jungle of Thailand
by DomKe
Summary: The Famous Five get into another dangerous adventure. This time in the Thai jungle, where they want to find an old pirate treasure to help a fisher girl named Joe save her village. Thereby they are often more or less in danger of their lives and only their courage and solidarity can bring them out of it safely!
1. Jungle Terror

It's time for something new lads. This time a fanfiction to the Five Friends of Enid Blyton. The events in this story will be really tricky for the five, and they will have to prove their courage and their friendship. This time they can only get through it, when their cohesion is so strong that nothing and nobody can stop them anymore.

This fan fiction is partly taken from the German film "Fünf Freunde 3". However, since this is a fan fiction, as already mentioned, there can be big differences. I haven't watched the movie myself, but I know the basic storyline. I just create something nice out of the puzzle pieces myself. ^^

Genres: Action, Romance, Friendship, Horror / Psycho-Horror, Mystery, Supernatural and also a bit of humor

Pairings: Dick x Joe, Julian x George, Anne x OMC

The age of the protagonists is as follows: Julian: 16, George: 15, Dick: 15, Anne: 14

Age Restriction Information: This story includes use of strong language, mention and depiction of physical violence, use of firearms, drug dealing and consumption. There may be erotic content or mention or depiction of sexual violence in this work, but this will be announced in advance with a "trigger warning".

Otherwise, I wish you a lot of fun while reading!

DomKe

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Exhausted and plagued by the enormously sultry air, the Famous Five and Joe stomped through the Thai jungle. Their search for the treasure that could save Joe's village turned out to be extremely complicated, despite the help of the compass. Not only the chaotic vegetation, but also the danger of being attacked by dangerous wild animals or caught by Cassi and Nick made their search drastically more difficult.

They passed a clearing that was a little less wild. "This looks like a good place for a camp. I really need a break," said Dick, and ran straight for the clearing. As he got closer, they heard a rustling in a bush not far from them. "What was that?" Anne asked startled. They all stopped as if rooted to the ground and looked tense in all directions. "Maybe just an animal," Julian replied and walked cautiously towards the clearing. "Be careful, Julian," George warned him. There was a definite note of concern in her voice. Dick, too, approached the clearing, but kept a watchful eye on all around him. "There's nothing here," said Joe. "It was probably really just an animal. No danger so far." Dick assumed. "If we weren't in a jungle, I'd believe you right now. But there are simply too many beasts here that like to hide and then attack you from behind" Anne replied, still full of fear. "Maybe it's Cassi and Nick," she added. "I don't care now, I need a break," George groaned and jumped over a fallen tree.

The friends had now reached the clearing. After further inspections and tense observation of their surroundings, they finally allowed themselves to rest. There seemed to be no danger. Totally exhausted from the long walk and fighting dehydration, the Famous Five and Joe sat down and rested for a while. "I never thought it would be so exhausting finding the treasure," Dick gasped. "Even though we have the compass that will lead us straight to the treasure." Julian added. "If this stupid treasure is even real." whispered George, who is not really convinced of the reality of the alleged pirate treasure. "It's real! And it is the last hope for me and my family. If that greedy Haynes gets that treasure, he'll leave us alone." Joe replied. She was used to the heavy air of the jungle, so she showed no signs of being exhausted. "Anyway, I need a few hours rest before I go looking for anything else. I can hardly even sit up straight anymore." Anne complained. Julian looked at his wristwatch which showed "08:43 p.m." " Well, let's call it a day now, tomorrow we'll leave again," he said and took a bottle of water from his backpack.

He sat down on a rock and took a big sip from the bottle. He ran his hand through his hair and thought about their latest adventure. After only a short time, it turned out to be one of the most dangerous they had ever experienced. Cassi and Nick, a gangster couple who were also after the treasure and knew that they had the compass, tried with all means to take it from them. Cassi proved to be quite unyielding and was not afraid to use force of arms against the children. They had seen weapons many times before, but they had never met anyone so willing to use them against the five. Nick, Cassi's jerky friend, had a different attitude. Either he didn't want to do the whole thing at all and just let Cassi take him along, or he didn't have enough guts to take violent action against children, like Cassi did. He was also a pretty big fool and had often made sure that the children got away safe and sound.

" Julian. Are you okay?", a voice ripped him from his thoughts. It was George who came to him with Timmy. "Sure. I was just thinking, you know. I think this adventure is the most dangerous thing we've ever been in," he replied, staring at the ground. "That's right." George narrowly confirmed. "But we'll manage," she added. "I thought the treasure was just a myth to you," Julian teased grinning. George shrugged and smiled at him, too. "Anything for the adrenaline rush," she said and laughed. Her laughter caused a kind of stare in Julian because he couldn't take his eyes off her. Euphoria spread through him. She made it seem as if she was happy and this made him happy as well.

George noticed that Julian was staring at her and looked into his eyes. She couldn't take her eyes off him either. For a long time they both looked into each other's eyes. George broke eye contact for a fraction of a second and started chewing on her lip. She couldn't stop her eyes to focus on his lips, which were decorated with a slight grin. Her heart started pounding wildly in her chest, and she could barely suppress the impulse to reach for his hand. What she could not prevent, however, was to give him a warm smile, which he immediately returned. She didn't even notice that she had come a little closer to him, but there was nothing she could do about it. Her mind was as if switched off, she felt her as if in a kind of trance and the boy in front of them would attract her like a magnet. "What the hell is wrong with me?" she asked herself silently. She seemed to have lost all self-control.

Timmy's barking made her come back to reality. The sly dog looked at her with his head held at an angle and barked again. "All is well Timmy," she sighed still grinning and knelt down to stroke his slightly dirty fur. Julian still sat on the stone and was now even more restless than before. What was it just between him and George? His heart was still racing and beating wildly in his chest. His hands trembled slightly and he had to try hard not to drop the water bottle in his hand. Or was it already too late for that?

A quick glance at the ground below him enlightened him. He had actually dropped the bottle. George also noticed this and gave him her full attention again. Timmy gave him a worried look, he knew something was wrong. "Are you sure you're all right?" George asked. "Yeah, sure. I'm just totally knocked out from the legwork today," he replied curtly and slid off the stone. Stupid idea, because when he stood on his feet again, he immediately became very uncomfortable. Nausea and dizziness plagued him and the headaches didn't leave him in peace either. George came closer to him and touched his arm slightly, whereupon she immediately pulled her hand back in shock. "You're almost burning," she whispered. "It's all right George. Nothing to worry about," Julian assured her. "I am worried Julian," she said seriously. "You look at me with a blank stare as if you were totally out of it, and you're almost burning."

Her face distorted before his eyes. He saw everything around him only blurred and had difficulty keeping his balance. Julian felt as if the earth's gravity was five times stronger on him. He knew that something was definitely wrong with him, but he had to stay strong. As the Elder of the Five, it is his duty to look after his brothers and sisters and his cousin and her dog. He forbade himself to become weak.

"You should rest, Julian," George said in a slightly commanding but worried tone. "But I must..." he began to protest, but she would not allow him to resist. She gently took his hand and pulled him to her sleeping bags. "What you need to do now is rest before you collapse," she said as they slowly approached the others, already dozing. "I hope you feel better tomorrow, otherwise I will start to worry even more." she whispered so as not to wake the others. "Tomorrow I'll be in top form again." he assured her. He doubted it himself, but he didn't want George to worry about him. That was his job, after all.

After he had slowly and agonizingly maneuvered himself into his sleeping bag, he felt as if he had been stapled to the ground, almost impossible to move even a little. Despite the hammering headache and the feeling of having just been put into the oven by the devil, Julian had fallen into a restless half-sleep within seconds. George on the other hand was still wide awake. Julian's peculiar behavior and the spontaneous staring contest that had caused her heart to race kept her awake. Never before had she been so worried about someone in her entire life. She was not surprised because before she had met Julian, Dick and Anne, she was always alone. Only Timmy was by her side, but that was quite enough for her. She loved Timmy more than anything and could not imagine a life without him from the very first day she met him. This affection also went over to the other three. After they had their first adventures together, they became inseparable. She could hardly imagine spending a holiday without Dick, Julian and Anne. The more adventures they had had together, the closer the others grew to her heart.

It was different with Julian. Of course, he is also incredibly important to her, so very important that she didn't want to admit it at all in order not to push the others into the background. He saw himself, as an elder, as the protector of the others and did everything to prevent them from getting into danger. Of course, this almost never worked because the famous Five Friends attracted danger almost magnetically, but Julian managed to pull them out of danger most of the time. Often the others helped out, especially Dick who was quite bragging and know-it-all but with his knowledge and ability to find a solution in a flash, was an incredible support.

Her thoughts drifted back to the strange event between her and Julian. For quite a while they stared into each other's eyes, and she seemed to forget everything, really everything around her. Absent-minded as she was, she hadn't even noticed that she had come closer to him. She wondered what would have happened if Timmy's barking hadn't pulled her out of the trance. She couldn't explain what was going on with her at the time. Slowly her eyelids grew heavy, and she decided to go to sleep as well. She also fell into a restless sleep.

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That's it for the first chapter. Not very long but hopefully the next chapter will be a little more exciting. 

I would be very happy about reviews and feedback because that keeps me motivated.

Until then

DomKe


	2. Visit from way down under

Loud rustle of the undergrowth lying around, tore George uneasily from her sleep. It was still the middle of the night. The sky was pitch black over the crowns of the trees. Jo and Dick were awake, too, and looked around in all directions, put on alert. The sound of twisting branches and bushes turned into footsteps that locked the already awakened youngsters in a state of shock. Someone definitely came to the clearing where they were camping in!

"Anne... Anne, wake up. We've got company," Dick whispered and shook his little sister's shoulder restlessly. Anne whimpered a little and accidentally knocked Dick's hand away. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked at her brother and Jo in confusion. "What's wrong?" she asked yawning and rubbed her itchy eyes with her hands. "There's someone creeping around in the bushes," Jo replied quietly and gave the youngest a serious look. "What!?", it burst out of Anne, who immediately pressed her hand in front of her own mouth. Her shocked reaction came out of her mouth much too loudly than expected.

To the young people's great concern, the sounds, after Anne's somewhat too loud exclamation of horror, stopped abruptly. Grinding her teeth, George gave the others a worried look. They did not know what was behind the protective wall of bushes and small trees. It could be a wild, dangerous animal looking for food or Nick and Cassi. Either would put them in great danger. In their still half dazed state they were quite defenceless.

George slowly started to get up and carefully approached the undergrowth from which the eerie noises were coming. But a voice, the sound of which triggered an unknown, strange feeling in her, stopped her. "Don't go there George. It's too dangerous," stopped her Julian, who had just freed himself from his sleeping bag. Reluctantly, George stopped and wondered why she just obeyed Julian's orders. She never did that before. No, on the contrary, she always did what she thought was right. Yet she stopped as if rooted to the spot and fixed her gaze on the vegetation in front of her.

Suddenly the rustling started again. Right in front of her face, the frightening sounds of branches and sticks crushing under footwear resounded again. George was getting really worried. Not knowing who or what was making these noises was obviously troubling her and the others.

"Damn it," cursed an unfamiliar voice from the undergrowth, which immediately calmed George a bit. It was definitely not a wild predator that was creeping towards them. Nor could it be Cassi and Nick, for the voice she had just heard did not belong to either of them. Without thinking much and also a little driven by fear, George did something quite daring. "Who is there?" she asked, demanding and trying to sound as threatening as she could. She could literally feel the horrified looks of the others on her back. What on earth is she doing, the others must have thought. But George stood firm and kept staring strained towards the sounds.

"What the?" she heard the voice stammer after George revealed her presence. "Hello?", the voice called back as footsteps sounded again. This time they were really heading towards the clearing where the friends were staying. George instinctively took a few steps back. She stood not far away from the others who were still lying or sitting on their sleeping bags like paralysed. Suddenly the giant leaves of a plant that offered them some cover were pushed aside and a boy looked at the Five Friends and Jo in surprise. This one was definitely not Thai. He was wearing a light blue tidy shirt, over it a black body armour and camouflage coloured cargo knickers. On his head he wore a cap, which looked very new and showed a sewed on Australian flag. He also healed a carbine in his hand, which made all the alarm bells ring in the heads of the group. This boy could be dangerous!

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you," the stranger blurted out and immediately pointed his gun to the floor. "Put that thing away!" George told him. To their surprise, the unknown boy, who was not much older than she was. "Okay, don't panic. If we all stay calm, nobody will get hurt," he said and slowly and carefully put his gun on the ground. However, he always kept his eyes fixed on the others. He knew what he was doing and gave the impression that he was trained in such situations. Keeping an eye on the enemy was the most important thing to surprise him out of the blue and take him out.

After he had put the gun down, he stood up again and kicked the rifle with his foot a few meters away from him. Timmy reacted immediately and hurried to his paws. Growling menacingly, he walked past the boy in a large arch and towards the gun. A long strap was attached to the gun, which could be thrown around his shoulder so that the gun did not have to be held in hand continuously. With the help of this band, which Timmy snapped at with his mouth, he dragged the weapon away from the stranger and put it down at George's feet. George grabbed the gun and put the strap around his shoulder. She looked quite threatening with the gun around her neck. Julian shook his head with a grin. His cousin visibly had the guy under full control. But he also knew that the boy didn't fight back and didn't really come across as hostile. However, he could have been faking it and had a nasty plan in mind to put George and the rest of the gang out of action. Who knows maybe he would rob them. Maybe he was also after the legendary treasure of an old notorious pirate captain of the Taruto Pirates.

"Who are you?" asked Julian, who stood up and joined George. "My name is Lewis. Lewis Stewart," the boy replied calmly. He was definitely trying to calm the others to make the situation less volatile. "And what are you doing here?" George asked, demanding, with a very poisonous undertone in her voice. "I'm looking for my brother," Lewis replied succinctly. George gave Julian a brief questioning glance. Could they trust this guy, or should they drive him away immediately? Julian unknowingly shrugged his shoulders as if he knew what questions were going through George's mind at that moment.

"Your accent... you must be from the Commonwealth, right?" asked Anne, who looked up at Lewis, covered by Dick and Timmy, who stood protectively in front of her. He smiled a little and then nodded. "Yes, that's right. I am from Australia. You must come from the kingdom, am I right?" he replied with a grin. "Yes, we do," Julian replied quietly and looked at the young Australian with a stern expression. He seemed to be a very relaxed guy who is not easily intimidated. Maybe they could trust him if they knew more about him. "Why are you looking for your brother here in Thailand? It's quite a long way from home, isn't it?" he asked cautiously. "I can explain everything to you if you promise to lower your alert," Lewis said. Julian and George then gave themselves further perplexed looks. Finally, Julian nodded and signalled to George that she didn't need to hold him at gunpoint any longer. Reluctantly, she did so and swung the gun behind her back with a heavy sigh. "But if he pulls even a small stupid move that puts us in danger, I'll hold you responsible," she muttered and stomped frustratedly to a tree where she finally settled down.

Meanwhile, Lewis turned himself in the middle of the round and started to tell the Five Friends and Jo what he was doing here, in Thailand, several hundred kilometres from home. "As I told you, I'm looking for my brother. He disappeared without a trace a while ago, but I found out with a lot of effort that he must be here in Thailand. You know... Our father was a billionaire and unfortunately he died tragically recently. His inheritance was split between me and my brother, Tyson. That means there was a billion Australian dollars for each of us. I never touched the money, but Tyson, lost himself in a fierce pursuit of the lives of the rich. He bought cars, went to expensive clubs, which were also haunted by some shady people. As far as I know he had messed with one of these people and then suddenly disappeared into nothingness. But as I already said, after a long and tedious work I was able to find out where he should be. That's why I'm here, and I'm not leaving this country until I find Tyson again."

Julian respected Lewis' intentions. He wanted to save his brother. He and Lewis shared his concern and closeness to his siblings. "Now I want to know what you're doing here. The kingdom is a long way away from here, too. Further, from Australia to be honest," said Lewis and grinned a little. "We are on holiday here," George said immediately. She probably didn't want to reveal her true intentions to him, which was quite understandable. "Holiday? Here? Why in this jungle of all places?", Lewis asked, a little surprised. He seemed shocked by George's testimony. "Why not? Can't we have a holiday here?" replied Dick, who inadvertently came over a little unkindly. "Well, it's not forbidden, but this jungle is no place for teenagers looking for a relaxing holiday," replied Lewis, shaking his head slightly. "We love adventure, and so we go to places that others tend to stay away from," George threw into the round and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "But then you got yourselves into an adventure that is life-threatening," Lewis returned. Although he had a cheeky grin on his lips throughout, he sounded damn serious. What exactly was he talking about?

"We've had adventures like this many times. We have escaped from many life-threatening situations," said George, who wanted to completely convince Lewis that the Famous Five and, of course, Jo were not just helpless children. "I don't think you even know what's going on here in this paradise," smiled Lewis, who seemed really calm. Julian confused this, because if it was really so dangerous here, wouldn't he have been afraid for his own well-being?

Lewis' eyes fell on Jo, "You look native to me, without wanting to offend you now. Do you really have no idea what is happening here?" he asked her and raised his hands a little. Jo laughed a little, she thought it was kind of funny and also a little cute that he was worried about offending her. Her expression soon became serious again. "No, I really don't know what you're talking about," she said and shook her head. Lewis sighed softly and looked up at the sky for a moment. Then he gave the young people a very serious look. "You have gone on holiday, to one of the most criminal and dangerous places in the world at the moment," he said. "How exactly do you mean that?", Julian questioned. He knew how dangerous this adventure was, but the level of danger they had got themselves into was much higher than he had ever feared.

"I'm not surprised that you don't know anything about it. Because most of the time no one survives to witness what happens here in this jungle and to tell about it. We are talking about large-scale drug trafficking, kidnappings, women who are abused and men who simply disappear without a trace and are never found again, at least alive. This place is literally hell on earth," Lewis explained deadly seriously. Anne was immediately frightened and listened to Lewis spellbound and with big eyes. She did not like what she heard at all. "'But if this area was so dangerous, why are you so relaxed?' asked George, who doubted Lewis' story. Dick was also a little suspicious, but he didn't speak up. Lewis looked at George with a confident grin. "I know how to defend myself. I have my eyes and ears everywhere," he said. "I still don't believe you," snorted George and avoided eye contact with Lewis. "You should, all of you. It's for your own good," he replied. Realizing that he could not influence George, he looked down and sighed.

"Granted, you are relatively safe here in this part of the forest," he said after a while of silence. "But if you should ever come across makeshift signs saying "H̄̂ām p̄h̀ān!" or "Xạntrāy thī̀ r̂āyræng k̄ĥāng h̄n̂ā!" on your discovery tours, turn around immediately and hope that you are not picked up by the gangs that are up to no good," he added, almost pleading. Jo was immediately impressed by Lewis' good pronunciation of the Thai words. "Where did you learn Thai?" she asked amusedly. "These are almost the only words or phrases I know," Lewis returned, also somewhat amused. "But your pronunciation is excellent for that," she praised him. "Thank you," Lewis said, nodding at her with a grin.

"And what do these signs have to do with it?" Dick questioned. "They demarcate the safe part of the jungle from the part where total anarchy and lawlessness reigns," Lewis replied simply, shrugging his shoulders. "This said part is called Khwām Tāy Forest, or Death Forest. Some treasure is said to be buried there by a captain of the Taruto pirates everyone is unrestrainedly crazy after," Lewis added. This statement shocked each of the Five Friends and Jo. If what Lewis told them was true, they were forced to go to that part of the jungle. However, they will not tell this rather strange boy. Anne was terrified by the thought of wandering around the Khwām Tāy forest and being in constant danger of being shot, injured, kidnapped or otherwise brutally murdered.

Lewis realized that he could not convince his friends to leave the dense jungle. But he was surprised that the kids, who didn't have to be much younger than himself, insisted so strongly on staying there. He got the feeling that they had something completely different in mind than just spending a simple holiday here. But he dropped the subject. George, out of boredom, constructed a campfire in the middle of the circle in which they sat. Everyone seemed to be occupied in some way. Dick and Jo were talking and joking around. Lewis immediately noticed that sometimes they got really, really close. They certainly seemed to like each other a lot.

Anne searched the backpacks and checked what else they had with them. And she looked pretty worried. A thick lump formed in Lewis' throat, because he blamed himself for scaring the young girl to death. This was true, but they still had to be made aware of the dangers of this jungle.

Julian looked very thoughtful and deeply lost in thought. He, too, seemed to have been very shocked by Lewis' words. But the Australian couldn't make any rhyme out of them. As long as they stayed in the more or less safe zone, they had nothing to fear? And staying away from Khwām Tāy Forest is a piece of cake. No, these teenagers were up to something and it definitely had to have something to do with the Death Forest.

Lewis' eyes fell on George and Timmy. The latter was lying dozing next to his mistress, who had sat down on a tree and leaned against it. In their hands was the rifle with which Lewis had been armed a short time before he had given it up. George seemed very interested in the gun. "You ever fired one of these?" Lewis asked with a grin as he approached her calmly. Without looking at him, George shook her head. "I can show you how to do it and what you need to know not to break your fingers," Lewis offered her. She seemed to like this suggestion because her head immediately shot up to Lewis, and she looked at him with a mischievous look. "Are you sure you want to do this? Afterwards I might become a danger to you," she teased him. Lewis laughed. "Dream on. You need a lot of practice to handle a gun like that sensibly," he returned. George didn't like that one bit. She stood up and looked at him with a sharp look. "Then show me how to use it and I'll show you what I got," she said softly, with a subtle, poisonous undertone in her voice. She mastered that one bloody well, Lewis had to admit. Some people could be kept in check by that, but not him. He just grinned a bit cheekily, nodded and hinted at George to follow him.

Purely by chance, Lewis led George to exactly the spot where she and Julian had their strange, confusing, but still incredibly exciting moment the night before. Immediately, the thoughts of what had happened burst back into her mind. But she swallowed the thoughts away, because she had to concentrate on something completely different now. She wanted to show this disrespectful Australian who is in charge here!

As simple as it could be, Lewis explained to her how to handle the gun. He also explained to her exactly what kind of weapon it was - an F88 Austeyr. Actually, this weapon came from Austria and was called Steyr AUG, but this rifle was carried under the alternative name as an ordnance weapon of the Australian armed forces and was therefore a great favourite of Lewis.

He showed George how to hold the rifle properly and explained to her what she had to do. He also warned her that when the shot was fired, she would feel a strong blow to the shoulder. George, as she was, waved Lewis' warning away.

With a sigh, the Australian handed her the gun, which George accepted excitedly. To Lewis' surprise, she had the drill out damn quickly and placed it against her shoulder as if she already had experience with firearms. Of course this was not the case, but George learned pretty fast and tried hard to impress Lewis. Small improvements in her posture were corrected by Lewis, while touching her. Julian, who watched this from a distance, did not feel very well about that. Seeing George with the gun in his hands made him a little worried. He wanted to make sure she didn't get hurt just because she wanted to be the bravest and strongest again. It also went against his grain that Lewis was getting pretty close to her. An old problem came up again. A problem that Julian had been struggling with for several years, but never knew how to deal with it properly. He knew perfectly well it was jealousy. For what reason he suffered from it, however, he could never reveal. Because it would cause a tremendous frenzy on George's part.

"I gotta tell you, you're really good at handling it." joked Lewis and lightly punched George in the shoulder. Lewis seemed to realize at once that George was an... extraordinary girl. He realized that she wanted to be treated more like a boy and so Lewis behaved towards her as he would have towards an old mate. This made him much more likeable to George, who made her distrust of him drop a little. "I must be honest, this gun is probably one of the most valuable you will see here. All the gangsters and rebels here use Kalashnikovs exclusively. So always treat that thing with respect," he said laughing. George also let out a small laugh but then concentrated fully on the rifle in their hands.

A small telescopic sight was installed on the gun, through which she was looking through with one eye. With the small red dot in the middle of the rifle scope she aimed at a thick trunk of a big tree at some distance. "When you're ready, you can remove the safety catch and try to get control of your breathing," said Lewis, pulling something out of a fanny pack of his body armor. He pulled out a black thing that immediately caught George's eye. "What is that?" she asked. "A silencer," Lewis replied with a grin."We don't want to attract the whole forest to us, do we?" he added with a grin, still a little serious. "It's no fun with that. Come on, let me shoot without that thing," George expressed himself somewhat indignantly. She could already guess what this accessory would change on the gun. It makes it quiet and that was a gigantic buzzkill for George. Sighing, Lewis gave in. "But really only one shot. We're not far from Khwām Tāy, so wild shooting around might attract some nosy guys," he said and stowed the silencer back in his vest.

George was fully concentrated again. After taking a few deep breaths to keep her hands steady, she, after Lewis explained how to do it, unlocked the gun and prepared to fire her very first shot with a fully automatic carbine. The others had their eyes fixed on George. Anne was quite worried at this moment. Playing around with sharp weapons was certainly not a good idea. She was glad that Lewis seemed to know them so well and was paying attention to what George was doing every second. Meanwhile she was counting down from 10 to 0 in her mind. As soon as she reached 4, she took a deep breath and held it. A tip that Lewis had given her to keep the gun as still as possible. Then... she fired her first shot.

Anne visibly flinched when the loud bang of the gun sounded. With a big echo it echoed between the trees and bushes of the clearing through the dense vegetation of the jungle. Grinding his teeth, Julian looked around while he waited for the sound to die down. He hoped that no one hostile, like Cassi and Nick or those gangsters and rebels Lewis spoke of had heard it. At the word rebels, Julian suddenly became suspicious. Rebels? What rebels? Rebels would fight against the state, fighting over "political" things. He wanted to question Lewis about it. He wanted to get to Lewis as soon as possible.

"Well, it hurts a little bit, doesn't it?" Lewis asked with a provocative grin as he took the gun out of George's hand, which she handed him in her right hand. Her left hand had magically moved to her right shoulder. Exactly where she had leaned the gun against. "No, it didn't," George mumbled, trying to kill the pain, which was, after all, very much there. But this didn't work and Lewis could clearly see her painful expression on her face. "Oh, come on, it'll be all right. I had to go through that too. After a while you won't even notice it anymore," joked Lewis and patted her on the back.

Julian now saw a good moment to approach Lewis about the alleged rebels. "Lewis. You mentioned rebels earlier. What exactly do you mean by that? What rebels are you talking about?" Julian asked. "Oh, yes, one more thing you probably don't know about," Lewis said softly. "Thailand has been suffering from internal problems for some time. In the villages in the jungle you hardly notice it. But in the big cities like Bangkok, Nonthaburi and Nakhon Ratchasima, there is total chaos at times. A rebel faction which is against the current government has built up over years and has now taken up arms. Also in Khwām Tāy there are some of these rebels. They trade with the gangs here to get drugs, weapons or important hostages. A very dangerous situation if you ask me," Lewis then added. Julian nodded silently and fell deeply into thought again. To find the treasure, the Five and Jo had to go to the Death Forest for good or ill, so it was a good idea to gather as much information as possible.

"In which direction is this dangerous part of the forest?", Jo suddenly asked. "Right there," Lewis said and pointed in a north-western direction. In exactly the direction the compass told her to go when she secretly looked at it. She kept the mystical object a secret from Lewis. It was better if as few people as possible knew about this thing. That Cassi and Nick were hunting it without regard for the children's health was enough. Silently, Jo gathered the others together to tell them the disturbing news. "If what he says is really true and Khwām Tāy really exists, we have to go in there. The needle of the compass points exactly in the direction Lewis just pointed," she informed her friends in a whisper. Lewis went on patrol for a moment and was therefore distracted. A good time to have a quick chat.

"What are you doing here all alone in the jungle? Did you find anything interesting that I want to get something out of, huh?" the kids suddenly heard a voice ask from a distance. Confused and also a little scared, the kids looked around. Where did that come from? "There's nothing here at all. I just wanted to hunt a little. A tradition I have from my father," they heard another but familiar voice say. It was Lewis! George could hear the rough direction of the voices and peered through a bush not far from them. She did indeed discover Lewis there facing two men. They were dressed exactly like Lewis and were also holding weapons in their hands. "What are you going to hunt for? Monkeys?" one of the men joked loudly and began to laugh. The unknown guy standing next to him also laughed. "Get out of here, you must have more useful things to do," Lewis demanded of them. He seemed to want to send the men away from here. Probably to prevent them from discovering their friends. But... who are these men anyway? Was Lewis himself a member of one of these gangs? It's highly unlikely. The clothes these people wore looked more like a security guard's uniform than clothes from a gang of criminals.

"Yes, indeed we do. Johnatan just told us to let you know he wanted to talk to you. We are gonna scram now," said the right-hand, slightly smaller stranger. His colleague nodded and followed the smaller one back into the depths of the jungle. But not without giving Lewis another brief suspicious look. "Who was that?" asked George, who immediately came bursting out of the undergrowth behind which she had overheard the conversation. "My 'colleagues'," Lewis said with the fingers pointing goosefeet. "What "colleagues"?" George digged deeper and gave him a demanding look. "You know... I had to join a group to get here, or I never would have been able to come here to save my brother. But it doesn't matter," Lewis replied quickly and glanced around. "I have to go now," he added and handed George something. She looked at what he was about to give her with eyes wide open, petrified. A pistol. Sharp, loaded and with a few magazines in reserve. "Take it. I know you're up to something, but it's none of my business," Lewis said. George took the pistol out of his hand and gave him a look of surprise. "I trust you well enough to know you're good with it," he said and took a few steps back. "Perhaps we'll meet again soon, which I rather hope not. Because the longer you stay here, the more you will challenge your luck to survive this jungle," Lewis said goodbye and left. As fast as he had appeared, as fast he had disappeared again.

George was still standing in the same place, completely fossilized and shocked by what had just happened. With the pistol he had also put a lot of responsibility into George's hands. Responsibility that this gun did not fall into the wrong hands or that no other stupid things were done with it. George closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She looked at the gun in her hand as if it was an object from another galaxy and tried to get a reasonable grip on it. Just like Lewis' assault rifle, she got the hang of the gun just as quickly. Deep inside, she hoped that firing this weapon would not hurt as much as firing an assault rifle. But this was a concern George would never have confided in anyone. She was brave and strong, pain was nothing to her.

A desperate, panicky cry of fear from Anne made George flinch violently. In the course of a millisecond she turned and stormed through the bushes to get back to her friends. But what awaited her there literally turned her stomach. In a corner of the clearing, the others stood tightly packed together against a tree and looked with huge, frightened eyes at something that made even George tremble. Timmy stood growling and barking in front of the others, getting ready to protect his friends from what was threatening them. Stupidly enough, it was a huge snake, a king cobra to be exact.


End file.
